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Topic: A Kid's First Sting (Read 4610 times)

I am not a beekeeper myself, though I know a thing or two about the insane amount of work involved in doing what you great folks do. I salute you all.

Rather, I'm a writer working on a piece of fiction. My heroine is a young woman who developed a passion for bugs at the hands of her beekeeping father.

But I'm having trouble writing about her first sting.

I would think it something a child would remember vividly. So what might that memory be like?

How and at what age might a father first introduce his young daughter to the bees? What would his reaction be to her first sting? How would he get her past that negative experience, in order to foster a love of insects and of beekeeping?

Any answers - from your own experiences especially - would be greatly appreciated!

... though I know a thing or two about the insane amount of work involved in doing what you great folks do.

Ahh, you definitely do write fiction then... beekeepers being predominately a slothful lot with winters off and whatnot. ;) That being the case, you should get a lot of suggestions here... unless they're all too busy working, of course. HA!

Do you recall your own experience with a first sting? Or are you requiring the first sting to be in the process of beekeeping? My first sting was the first day of school, right in the eye. Psychological impact? I've hated school ever since!! (I don't blame the bee, who was obviously simply trying to warn me).

As far as the interaction between a father and daughter and teaching methodology, I would think that would be a very personal and involved exchange based mainly on the character of the father. Develop the father's character and the teaching of anything flows from that, be it beekeeping or bicycling (both can be painful as you learn), though there is the additional element of responsibility when nurturing life (so husbandry, pets, gardening, etc., may be a more apt analogy).

hmmmm, hmmmm.....i would say there's no age limitation, but like with all things greater things start to happen when the kid starts to walk-so he can fetch something :-D

rather than her first sting you oughta write about the first swarm she got from her father, so that would be..age 8 or so. because...you know, we people seldomly remember bad things and a sting probably isn't a thing that would draw someone to beekeeping.

are you writting about nowadays beekeeping or old days? are you in countryside or town? actually how long will this essay/book be?

i would start with:"my dad has always kept bees jabadadababdabdab....but the turnover in my life was on my 8th birthday (obviuosly her birthday has to be in may, LOL)blalalblalbllbla"

or you could go with "father broke his leg" but that actually wouldn't stop a beek, hehe.

basicly what i wanted to say is...as a countryboy i know i've been stung a gazzillion times to talk about the first one? same goes for this girl, if her father's a beek she will definitly get stung before the age of 3 and people don't have memory before age of 3 (at least not concious)

Pnbt, I have a suggestion as was told to me by a friend who removes bees from unwanted places, like I do, such as peoples houses, trees, etc... My friend told me of a young man who was interested in what he was doing and got kinda close to the action, well he was stung. My friend said he had a little crowd around him observing his doings and to turn things around for himself and the boy, he grabbed a bee and told the boy "look, I will get stung too", which he did. He said the boy and he were able to share the experience of getting stung, and in some way, the boy's pain of the sting didn't seem to be that bad anymore because someone else was going through the same thing as he.

Now just my 2cents, but if I was writing about this I would use it as a tutorial to teach others the correct way to remove honeybee stingers, which is by scraping the stinger away from the skin, with a fingernail, and never by grabbing, squeezing, and pulling the stinger out, as this method can inject more of the bee's venom into the stung area. I think that if tactfully done this could be a cute little passage that could actually benefit others.

Pnbt, we are very passionate people here and when it comes to our bees we are even more passionate, we simply adore and love the truly amazing little honeybee. Please write enthusiastically about their splendor and spread the word for us, thankyou!

I would think 4 or 5 years old is a good time. As soon as you can keep their attention. Here is my son at 5. He normally wears a veil, but wanted a picture to show his friends how "tough" he was.

I also proclaimed bee stings as a positive thing as it helps prevent arthritis. It must of worked because just last week we where headed out to work on the bees and my wife reminded him that bees don't like black and he might want to change. He replied that he hadn't been stung in a while so he was hoping that he would. He got his wish, and then decided to go change his shirt :-D

I guess after seeing me get stung and not getting upset, I just simply coaxed him through the first time he was stung and told him the first one would be the toughest and if he could get through it without getting upset or crying, it would be easier after that. So it was just "ouch, ouch, ouch, get it out" with very little fanfare. Made me proud :-D

Sorry, don't remember my first sting. I was very young, as my dad was a beekeeper too....

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"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas Edison

For my kids (all 5) they've all been stung several times. It actually has not been any worse than your average "boo-boo" when they fall down and scrape their knees and hands.

It hurts bad at first, and they cry. Then they go try to catch another bee :roll:

The fear of bees is generated by parents. If Mom or Dad is scared and says and acts so, then the kids will be. If I just scape the stinger, kiss the sting, comfort them a bit, and then go on, they will forget about it within a few minutes (except for when it swells up and itches fiercely).

My daughter has been around my bees quite a bit. She is only 3 right now. She has yet to be stung. She is fairly weary as she understands the bees have a business end that she doesn't want any part of.

Checked out my son, 9, after he got stung doing a cut out on a couple of Fox Squirrel boxes from a national wildlife refuge. He was upset at first, but we rubbed some plantain on it and went back to work. It hasn't dampened his enthusiasm at all. He gets mad if I work the hives without him, or if I work his hive.

At five years of age I was stung between the big toe and the one next to it on the right foot as I ran barefoot across my Aunts backyard in Houston, Texas. All us kids were playing with the water hose. I am now 53 and have a lousy memory about my childhood.

My oldest son at the age of three was stung on the finger when a bunch of bees moved into a wall of the house we lived in at the time and found some ways into the house and was buzzing around in the window. We told him to leave them alone because they would sting, but he wouldn't. The look on his face when it did happen was so funny we couldn't help but laugh at it. Now that he is 30 I am not real sure how he feels about bees.

I would imagine any lingering psychological affect would depend on the person. Just as it does with anything. I know people that have had minor fender benders and are afraid to drive. I had a motorcycle accident that nearly killed me but was back on the bike as soon as I could per the Doctors release. I have fallen from high places many times but never developed a fear of heights.

More in context here I played with big red ants we have in these parts. Been stung many times by them but I just kept on messing with them.

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:rainbowflower: Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak. :rainbowflower:

I don't remember my first sting but here is one of a few that I remember as a child.

My grandparents had a flowering bush of some sort that during the summer ALWAYS had honey bees gathering. For some stupid reason, I decided it would be a fantastic idea to reach out with the speed of a ninja and snag one of these bees. Well, the inevitable happened and I got nailed in the hand sending me balling my eyes out. Aside from that, I remember stepping on one in my back yard that really ruined my day. I used to get nailed all the time as a kid and I think eventually I developed a fear of bees, wasps, and whatever else that had a pointy rear-end. I suppose that is why I got into beekeeping in the first place (aside from my dad triggering my interest). Face a fear and making up for the deaths of the honey bees who found their way under my magnifying glass. :shock: Now I am planning on going commercial. Go figure.

I know when my 7 yr old daughter got her first bee sting this summer because of her refusal to wear socks when I working the hive the most important thing she wanted was a bandaid. Two adults had to hold her down to remove stinger, but somehow that bandaid was going to make the world of difference to her.

You could always catch a bumblebee or wasp to remind yourself of the sensation of being stung. Or, you could try brushing your hand with a stinging nettle and multiply by 3 to get the same thing. I'm in the process of writing the great Amercian Western right now. I've written my memoirs and a Fantasy novel and about 20 short stories. Using the words hot, burining, needle prick, and stabbing in reference to stings will convey the message.

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Life is a school. What have you learned? :brian: The greatest danger to our society is apathy, vote in every election!

My 2 year-old daughter has come to visit the bees with me numerous times. She gets within five or six feet of the hives. She has even touched a swarm, but is generally wary of the bees. Every time she sees a bee anywhere now, it's "one of Daddy's bees". She gets close up to look at them, but knows not to bother them. Still, she does panic a bit if a bee, wasp, or housefly surprises her.

She hasn't been stung, but I know I'll feel terrible about it. I'll remain calm, but she sure won't. I'm not sure how I will actually handle it when it happens.

At her age, she is not much help of course and anything involving bees always takes way longer than it should. So she ends up bored and I end up unable to finish.

My first sting wasn't until I was 41... so the experience is not likely to be much use to you in your writing.

I do remember my brother at about age 10 getting stung when a bee flew into his mouth while he was riding his bike. He ran screaming all the way home. You can imagine how much fun my parents had, getting the stinger out. And he was pretty scraped up from wiping out on the bike when it happened. And it was hours later when we remembered his bike and we were surprised it was still lying where he left it when we went back. By the next day, he was pretty cocky about the whole episode.

It feels like a burn. Like someone layed a hot coal on your skin. Then, in a short time, it goes to just hurting a bit and then itching and then swelling and itching. I remember my first one. I stepped on a bee. Oddly enough out of five children I raised around bees only one ever got stung during their childhood at all and he only got stung once or twice. He got stung the same way I did (and we did not have bees) by stepping on them barefoot. I got stung more as a child than my kids did.

>How and at what age might a father first introduce his young daughter to the bees?

My grandkids came out in the beeyard with a beesuit on at about three.

> What would his reaction be to her first sting?

Beekeepers don't take stings very seriously. IF my grandsons got stung in the beeyard (which they never have) I would walk away from the beeyard and put some plantain on it. As it is, one of my grandsons did get stung (but not in the beeyard) when one crawled up his sleeve and he pushed on it. I scraped the stinger with my fingernail and put plantain on it.

> How would he get her past that negative experience, in order to foster a love of insects and of beekeeping?

It never bothered my grandson any. When I'm grafting queens, and an emerging fuzzy worker bee comes out he lets it crawl on his hand and plays with it until I'm ready to put them back out in the hive.

My eleven year old son was stung for the first time a year ago last spring. Not by just one but five. We were both in shirt sleeves and veil less and just resetting the bricks under the hives. Despite warnings and repeating them back to me, he kept standing right in front of one of the hives and the bees got hacked off. Well a bunch got on him and me. When he squeezed two of them in his elbow they stung. He yelled and twisted which squeezed two more on his knee and they stung. When he went to brush them off he rolled another and got stung a fifth time. He screamed bloody murder and moved so fast I could almost see a contrail behind him. I finished the box I was holding and went after him in the house. He looked at me wanting me to take the pain away so bad it hurt me. He had gotten all but one of the stingers out and I scraped that one out for him. As I treated him, more for psycological effect we talked about what happened. I kept my attitude of caring but calm and he told me exactly what he did wrong. He settled right down. Man I thought, and still do, he was a tough little bugger for still wanting to help to this day. We used benadryl that night so he could sleep but the itching drove him nuts for about four days. He said he has gotten away with so much with the bees and every other critter he's come across he figured he was immune to any retaliation. He has a new respect for the bees as do his sisters. The neighborhood kids that used to throw balls at and under the hives and dare each other to get it have since ceased this game and stay away from the area as they were warned in the first place.

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Everyone said it couldn't be done. But he with a chuckle replied, "I won't be one to say it is so, until I give it a try." So he buckled right in with a trace of a grin. If he had a worry he hid it and he started to sing as he tackled that thing that couldn't be done, and he did it. (unknown)

I'll never forget the look of sad shock on my 14 month old son when he saw a bumblebee on a flower in my mother's garden and before I could warn him he reached out to pat it. Poor kid, all he wanted to do was pat it! :( But he did learn his lesson that day...

Folks, although this is an interesting discussion, keep in mind that the person requesting input has not returned to view any of the input given so far. So keep that in mind before you spend the time to respond.

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"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas Edison